Hands

This warm-up is to get us all working together and listening with our bodies as well as our ears. Everyone into a circle and join hands.

Description

One person squeezes that hand that they are holding. The person that received the squeeze squeezes the hand of the other person that they are connected to. This should generate a squeeze pulse that races around the circle. A second squeeze can start circling in the opposite or same direction. There should be no clue that they are receiving the hand squeeze, and therefore no one can really predict when it will come to them. The exact same warm-up can be done with the players contacting palms and giving a push instead of a squeeze. This is more obvious when the pulse moves around the circle. Sometimes the palm pushing wave can generate considerable force.

Gimmicks

None

Variations

Squeezes can be started in different directions. The rate that the squeeze travels can also be adjusted. The player cannot squeeze the next person until the squeeze on their hand is over. So a long squeeze will take longer to travel around the circle. This would allow different pulses to travel overtop of each other and in different directions.